Tonight is Pat Sajak’s last night as host. Wheel of Fortune. The 77-year-old television personality has been a mainstay of the game show for more than 40 years, a television record.
Sajak announced this time last year that the show’s 41st season would be its last. And now that year has come to an end.
During its final episodeSajak thanked viewers for watching him for decades. “It has been an incredible privilege to be invited into millions of homes night after night, year after year, decade after decade,” he said. “I’ve always felt that with privilege comes responsibility to keep this daily half hour a safe place for family fun, no social problems, no politics, nothing embarrassing, I hope. Just a game.”
Here you have a series of videos that Wheel of Fortune has been sharing all week, where Sajak talks about his tenure on the show and why now was the right time to hang it up.
Here’s Vanna White’s farewell to Sajak, which aired this week on the show.
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Sajak, who turned 77 in October, started in radio as a teenager, working for Armed Forces Radio during the Vietnam War and then moving into local television news; He was a meteorologist in Los Angeles before being chosen by Wheel of Fortune Creator Merv Griffin will host the series in 1981, replacing Chuck Woolery.
Wheel of Fortune it actually originated as a daytime series on NBC, which is the version Woolery hosted before Sajak; the union Wheel It opened in the fall of 1983 and has remained an afternoon and early evening event across the country ever since. (Sajak’s co-host Vanna White joined the show in 1982.) A few years ago, Sajak became the longest-serving host in the history of television game shows, surpassing a record she previously held The price is good host Bob Barker.
Following Sajak’s retirement, the series’ new host will be Ryan Seacrest. Vanna White will continue in her co-host role.
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